"It's just as fun as when you were a kid. You go zoom! and whoosh! You're a sky creature, not a miserable earth-crawler. And you get to the end of your commute feeling invigorated and intensely alive." --Dale Favier

Vive le Tour, 1962

Who needs a reason?

Not wasting my time

Millions of people who try to keep fit by jogging, cycling or going to
the gym could be wasting their time, a study revealed today.

Well, I guess that depends what they want to get out of it.

"If a patient is not likely to benefit much from aerobic exercise, the
physician could turn to other types of exercise or alternative
therapies…Alternative types of exercise include anaerobic pursuits
such as weightlifting, push-ups and pull-ups.

Yeah-no. I think I'll stick to cycling, thanks all the same.

I would put it first

Apparently 'The Rumour' is the third most beautiful Dutch nude
painting. The first two must have been amazing.

Gob-smacked

Tyler Strandberg of Rocky Mount has a hard time getting her mind off
her BlackBerry when she drives.

She has crashed three cars in the past three years.

Each time, she was distracted from her driving because she was typing
text messages or talking on the phone.

"Sometimes I will zone out and forget I'm driving," said Tyler, 23.
"If I'm on the phone talking about something that takes up all my
focus, I'm looking straight ahead - but not even seeing what's there."

Nine times he almost mowed down DI Melvin, aiming for him on the
pavement, striking his handle-bars, forcing him off his bike into
trees, threatening to kill him and hurling stones and coins at him.

When arrested, he asked "Can I not just apologise?" Yes, you should
apologise and then they should ban you from driving for life—you have no
business being in control of a motor vehicle. Check out the sentence:

…nine months in jail, suspended for two years, with 12 months
supervision and 100 hours unpaid work. He was banned from driving for
two years and must pay £750 costs.

Skid lid

Hardly a surprising finding, as in most jurisdictions helmets need to
comply with minimum standards. But it is interesting that, provided it's
properly fitted (and that's the crucial point), an expensive helmet
doesn't provide more protection in proportion with its higher price.
Expensive helmets do offer better ventilation, lighter weight, and
better fitting options. But all else being equal, they probably aren't
any "safer".

Ride here (or perhaps not)

Get out of the car, butterball!

In all cases, children who were driven to school had the lowest levels
of physical fitness, being less fit than walkers, cyclists and even
children who took the bus. Cyclists were also found to be more
physically active at other times of day when compared to children
using other transport modes.

Sad but true:

Although cyclists and car users were most different in terms of
physical fitness, the distances they travelled to school were very
similar. Cyclists rode for about 1.5 miles to school, and average car
rides were about two miles. Half of these car journeys were less than
two miles and 15 percent were less than a mile – both easily walkable
or bikeable distances.

To speculate, parents of the the car-riding kids probably argue "but
riding is dangerous!" Yeah, right. And type 2 diabetes is a picnic…